18 May,2026 12:28 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
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A 35-year-old man has allegedly been duped of Rs 2 lakh by three persons in a US dollar exchange fraud in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township, police said on Monday, reported PTI.
One of the accused had approached the victim, a resident of Dombivli in Thane district, claiming his relative wanted to exchange some USD notes. On May 12, the accused showed the victim bundles wrapped in a handkerchief that appeared to contain US currency near a hospital in Kalamboli, they said, reported PTI.
Believing the notes to be authentic, the victim handed over Rs 2 lakh in cash, after which the accused fled.
The victim later found that the bundles handed over to him were actually paper rolls and soap bars, with a single dollar note pasted on top to make them appear genuine, according to the police, reported PTI.
Following the victim's complaint, the police registered a case on charges of cheating under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A probe was underway into the case, the police added.
In another case, six persons have allegedly cheated a jewellery trader of Rs 14 lakh under the pretext of selling him gold at a low price in Maharashtra's Thane city, police said on Monday, reported PTI.
The 31-year-old victim, a resident of Goregaon in Mumbai, claimed that the accused approached him with an offer to sell gold at a discounted rate. They allegedly took Rs 14 lakh in cash from him in the Vasant Vihar area here on May 12, but failed to hand over the promised 100 grams of gold, a police official said, reported PTI.
Based on the complaint, the Chitalsar police have registered an FIR against three identified and as many unidentified persons under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provisions for cheating and criminal breach of trust, he said, reported PTI.
Efforts were underway to trace the accused, the police said.
Meanwhile, a Thane resident lost Rs 93.30 lakh after he was lured into investing in a forex trading scheme by two persons, both of whom have been booked, a police official said on Saturday, reported PTI.
The accused, identified as Ananya Agarwal and Mukul Agarwal, allegedly manipulated a digital trading app to show fake earnings to the victim between January and May this year, the Chitalsar police station official said, reported PTI.
"The duo provided the victim with a specialized trading application to track his portfolio. Aside from displaying his actual deposits, the application showed artificial, inflated earnings to the tune of Rs 3 crore," he said.
However, the man realised he had been duped when he was unable to withdraw his principal investment and the accumulated virtual profits as the app was blocking such transactions, the official said, reported PTI.
Ananya Agarwal and Mukul Agarwal were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating, forgery and other offences but are yet to be arrested, he said, reported PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
